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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26089873">breakfast can come later</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitter_edge/pseuds/bitter_edge'>bitter_edge</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night &amp; Related Fandoms</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Coffee, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Mentioned Kiyohime, Other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:08:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,091</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26089873</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitter_edge/pseuds/bitter_edge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>You move through the space of the kitchen as quietly and carefully as possible; you don't know who could be up this early, but you do know that for the moment, you don't want anyone to catch you up so dreadfully early. (You pretend not to hear Kiyohime around the corner. You’ve long grown accustomed to her constant presence, and now that you think about it, she probably isn’t the only one watching.)</p><p>//</p><p>In the little free time you find between grinding for materials and saving humanity, you face a new and daunting task: making coffee with expensive and seemingly-breakable equipment. The things we do for love.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Edmond Dantès | Avenger/Fujimaru Ritsuka, Edmond Dantès | Avenger/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>88</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>breakfast can come later</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You move through the space of the kitchen as quietly and carefully as possible; you don't know who could be up this early, but you do know that for the moment, you don't want anyone to catch you up so dreadfully early. (You pretend not to hear Kiyohime around the corner. You’ve long grown accustomed to her constant presence, and now that you think about it, she probably isn’t the only one watching.)</p><p>The lights are sparse; just enough for you to tell what you're doing and go where you're going. You keep trying to calm yourself, but it's hard, because when you're rifling through the cabinets like this it feels especially like you're doing something wrong. And again, you really would rather not be caught. </p><p>Behind the fourth or fifth door you swing open, you find what you were looking for: coffee grounds, a grinder, and the French press used to process them.</p><p>Thank goodness.</p><p>The squeak of the cabinet doors was really starting to get to you, especially given how loud it sounded against the quiet of the early morning. You take a deep breath, carefully lifting what you need out of the cabinet and onto the countertop below. </p><p>Then it occurs to you that you don't know exactly what blend it is that Avenger likes.</p><p>Damn it. </p><p>You squint inside and try to make the names of the beans out. You can recognise a couple--you grab the jar of beans marked with the name "Blue Mountain" and hope for the best. </p><p>Despite the initial resistance from the beans, sitting down and grinding them gives you the opportunity to calm down and reflect a little. Your thoughts inevitably wander to Avenger making you coffee every morning. You wonder if he'll be surprised when the tables are turned on him... Except you get the feeling he already knows you've snuck out of bed, to begin with. You feel your face warm a little in embarrassment. You refrain from reaching up to check if you're right--nobody else is around anyway.</p><p>You let yourself fall into the circular motion of your arm. It gets easier as the minutes pass. You look down and see coffee grounds--surely these are fine enough?</p><p>You only vaguely remember the instructions you looked up earlier, but the process of actually turning these grounds into coffee, as you remember it, is fairly simple--</p><p>"Master." Comes Avenger's voice from behind you.</p><p>"A-Avenger!" You yelp, startled, whirling around to face him.</p><p>"Heh." Under the brim of his hat you watch as his lips pull up into that amused smirk of his. You are definitely blushing, but you have to save this somehow!</p><p>First, you address the most pressing issue: "I wasn't scared," you say as matter-of-factly as you can. "Just startled."</p><p>"I was surprised, myself," he nods. "I did not think my accomplice would forsake the little rest they are allowed to make coffee, of all things. Pray tell, Master, are the cups I prepare for you in the morning no longer to your liking?"</p><p>"No! No, they're great! I love them. I just, ahh..." </p><p>You trail off, because even though you have to tell him, you were really hoping it'd be a surprise. Maybe you should've asked Merlin for help, except no nevermind actually. Hrmm.</p><p>"How long have you been following me?"</p><p>"Shortly after you left your bedroom," replies Avenger.</p><p>"That... checks out, yeah."</p><p>You peek at the Count's face underneath the brim of his hat. His smirk has rounded into something softer. The arch of his eyebrows, his wild, white hair, and the crosses in his shockingly yellow eyes cut him quite the fearsome image on their own, but… not to you. And especially not when he's looking at you like this in particular; like no matter what it is you're up to at this godforsaken hour of the morning, he'd help. </p><p>"Well?" He asks, in a tone that implies he genuinely wants to know the answer to the question he asked just moments ago--you'd already almost forgotten.</p><p>"Right. Um. Your coffee is great, and I love it," you reiterate, "but it's always you bringing it to me."</p><p>"Is there anything wrong with that?"</p><p>"...Maybe, maybe not. But I wanted to try and do it for you, instead," you admit. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snuck around. And I should've just talked to you about it, too--I actually don't even know if this is the kind you like."</p><p>Avenger responds to this by holding out his hand. "Give me that."</p><p>"Huh?"</p><p>"I would have appreciated it if you'd told me, yes, but wanting to do something for me... That's nothing to apologize for." He takes the coffee grounds from your hands. His fingers brush against yours in the motion of it.</p><p>"B-But you're helping now."</p><p>"What of it? It does not mean your gesture has not reached me. The faster we finish up here, the faster we can return to our quarters."</p><p>Your heart stupidly skips a beat at the word "our".</p><p>"If it is easier of you to think of it that way," he continues, "then you may."</p><p>"I'm going to consider everything you said just now, but thank you."</p><p>"Hmph." He pours the grounds into the press.</p><p>"...What kind of coffee do you usually drink, out of what's available here?"</p><p>"I've no real preference. But I would be remiss not to drink the first cup you made, especially if you made it for me."</p><p>After a moment or two of silence you watch as the Avenger carefully exerts pressure on the grounds. </p><p>"You weren't kidding that first time you brought me a morning cup. You really know your way around making coffee in this thing." you note. </p><p>"Hmm. I'm sure you know this, Master, but you are not the only one who wants to do things for the person they..."</p><p>"...they?"</p><p>"...Nevermind. I struggle to find the appropriate words, so I will leave it be for the moment. The coffee is done."</p><p>"Ah. I'll fetch us some mugs." You pad across the floor to the drawer you'd seen the drinkware in earlier. Avenger follows. After the equipment you used has been emptied out into some mugs, he dutifully places the French press and the grinder aside.</p><p>"I know I wanted to do this myself, but thank you for helping anyway." You say. It occurs to you in the next moment to take the tray before he can do it. It's a petulant sort of thought, but you do. </p><p>Avenger opens the door for you, seeing that your hands are full. "Think nothing of it." </p><p>You bump into Emiya and Tamamo Cat at the entrance to the cafeteria. </p><p>"Hello, Avenger--oh, and Master! Good meowning, you two." </p><p>Emiya looks at you quizzically. "Not often we see you around, Avenger. What were you two doing in the kitchen before breakfast?"</p><p>You guess they're here to start cooking for everyone else. "I wanted to make some coffee."</p><p>"Ah... I see, now." says Emiya, turning to Avenger. "You left the equipment where you usually do, right?" It occurs to you that the Count is usually the one making coffee in here, early in the morning. </p><p>"I did. Thank you again for letting me use it." His words are short, but that's enough for Emiya and Tamamo Cat.</p><p>"We'll try to save you two some breakfast," nods Emiya. </p><p>"Have a good day off, Master! See you!" Tamamo Cat waves you off cheerfully as you start down the hall.</p><p>The walk back to your room is a quiet one--between you and Avenger at least. Between the early bird Servants and Chaldea’s personnel, the halls have come alive in the short time you were out of them. You call out several "good morning"s as you wade through the growing crowd of familiar faces, but after a couple of minutes of this you notice that the Count hasn't retreated into your shadow yet.</p><p>"This is simply what I feel like doing. It is not strange to want to walk beside you like this, sometimes." he says. </p><p>"I see," you say. "I like the feel of it, actually."</p><p>"Hmph. If you like it, then perhaps I will do so more often."</p><p>Despite the fact that he usually stays in your shadow, he walks at exactly your pace; his long, black coat trailing behind him.</p><p>The lights in Chaldea are always on, of course. But outside the narrow windows stretching across the hallways, you can see the morning sun--peeking over the Antarctic snowscape the facility calls home and painting the sky in shades of purple and pink. You turn away from the window and key into your room. </p><p>"...You made the bed before you followed me?" you ask the Count, placing the tray of coffee on your bedside table.</p><p>"What of it? I felt that I had the time, is all."</p><p>"I do appreciate it, it's just... surprisingly cute of you." </p><p>"Cute," he says, like he's rolling the word around on his tongue. He casts you a sidelong glance.</p><p>"Would you prefer I not say that about you?" you ask.</p><p>"I would be lying if I said it was not a little embarrassing, but call me as you see fit." He lifts the mug to his lips.</p><p>You try not to watch his face *too* obviously, taking your own drink. You watch out of the corner of your eyes. The ceramic of the mug warms your palms, and you wonder if your grip on it is too hard. </p><p>"...Well?" </p><p>"You ground the beans very finely, I notice."</p><p>"H-How did you know?"</p><p>He tips the bottom of the mug toward you so you can see the coffee grounds sitting at the bottom.</p><p>"Ah." </p><p>"Haha! You need not despair. It tastes fine." He lays a hand on your back, patting you. </p><p>"I... I feel a little bad for wasting them, though." You stare into the bottom of your own drink, the steam rising up to warm your face. (It was already warm.)</p><p>"I am sure Chaldea can write off one or two unnecessary expenses for their sole Master--it was the experience of it that mattered, was it not?"</p><p>"It wasn't, though! I really wanted to make something you like."</p><p>"Look at my face." he says. "Do I look like I do not like it?"</p><p>You do look. A soft smile--as soft as he can get it to look, as you realize this is him trying to comfort you--is pulling at his lips. It's a familiar, calming sight. You're hit with the reminder that to you, he is not only your servant, not only your accomplice, and not only an Avenger.</p><p>He is also the man you love. </p><p>And when he waits for you to start working with a coffee press you might not know how to use before coming out of your shadow to help you use it; when he makes your shared bed before following you out of it at two-thirty in the morning; when he drinks your bad coffee, tells you it's bad, and smiles at you like it's the best in the world. He loves you, too.</p><p>You rest your head on the Count's shoulder, not knowing what to say.</p><p>"Sentimental?" he asks, an affectionate lilt in his voice.</p><p>"Mm."</p><p>"Ha. You may call me what you like, as I said before... but I believe that between the two of us, you are far more lovable than I." The Avenger sits closer; wrapping an arm around the small of your waist. </p><p>You want to say something, but your eyelids feel heavy. "I think I want to sleep for a little bit."</p><p>"Even though you just had coffee?"</p><p>"I... yeah. Maybe it'll kick in later or. Something."</p><p>"Sleep, then. I will be here."</p><p>You rest your head on the pillows. "You don't have any other plans?"</p><p>"I plan to keep you safe as you dream."</p><p>"Come here, then." Your arms feel like lead, the exhaustion of having woken up so stupidly early on so little sleep finally catching up with you. They feel like lead, but you reach out for the Avenger. It takes a moment. You might be seeing things wrong, but his cheeks seem a little pink when he lies down beside you and hugs you back. </p><p>"Really, you..." you can hear him mutter, deep and quiet. </p><p>Your eyelids slip shut, and the last thing you feel as your consciousness ebbs is a soft kiss pressed against your forehead. </p><p>"Rest well, my Master."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank you for reading! you might be wondering: bitter--edge, is edmond dantes your favorite f/go character? he's great and i love him, but he is not my favorite character. my favorite character is billy the kid, a character that makes no appearance in this two-thousand word fanfiction that i wrote with my hands. i hope you liked it!! also, i tagged it as Other bc i usually try to write gender-neutral readers--let me know if i messed that up anywhere</p><p>(come talk to me on tumblr at sweetwordshoneyedink)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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